Welcome, welcome! This is the sixth installment of my annual beginning-of-the-year spotting competition. This year, we’ve seen so many community spotters on the come up with new gear and new techniques, so I have no doubt this will be the most exciting competition yet!
To get everyone up to speed, below is a table of our past podium finishers.
| Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | @Speedbird_286 | @Chris_Wing | @Cole_Collins |
| 2021 | @den.aviation | @Guxk | @Altaria55 |
| 2022 | @robert_xing | @Camille | @Aviation108 |
| 2023 | @JacksonAviation | @Speedyyy | @den.aviation |
| 2024 | @Kamryn | @callaa | @Altaria55 |
As of today, no spotter has ever won twice and no spotter has ever received more than two podium positions. Will this year change that? let’s find out.
Full Ruleset
Basic Rules:
- Double elimination style (two losses and you’re out).
- Please only enter if you are actually going to stay active during the whole competition. I’m not chasing people around for photos.
- 32 slots initially, expandable on high demand (usually happens).
- Photographer names will be kept private (for the most part), but votes will be public and shown on close.
- Final placements will be determined through the following schema:
- Each set of spotters that gets eliminated together will be placed in a group.
- You will receive an order within that group based on your total percentage of votes.
- Rounds survived overrides percentage, for example if you have 210% total of votes but get eliminated after someone with 260%, you will still score above them.
- In the case of an odd number, there will be one group of 3. Only the person who gets last amongst the 3 will receive the loss.
- Matchups will be determined by a randomizer wheel.
Photo Rules:
- There will be no category/plane restrictions for any rounds.
- Must be your own photos.
- Do not watermark your photos.
- Must show enough “plane” motive and be real. Basically, if nothing is photoshopped in and the plane takes up a decent part of the frame, it is probably fine. If you have a shot that’s borderline submit it and I will decide.
- You are allowed to swap photos up until an hour before the deadline for each round.
- I reserve the right to deny any photo.
New Rules:
- This year, if your opponent doesn’t submit their photo by the hard deadline, you will be given two choices. You can:
- Take the win and 50% (and the other person will receive a loss and 0%)
- Extend their submission time by up to 12 hours and have the round anyways, the results are binding.
- Once the decision is taken it cannot be changed. If the other person does not submit by 12 hours you will receive the win and 50%.
How to Enter
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Please send me a separate PM with your photo. If you cannot initiate a PM due to trust level, drop a reply and I will message you first. You are not entered until I receive your photo. I will not be reserving slots for people.
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When you submit, please include your username in the PM title so I can better keep track of people. Use the same PM to submit future photos.
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Entrees ARE NOW CLOSED
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If you prefer, you can also send multiple photos and I will simply use them in order so I don’t have to bother you every round.
Have Fun!
Here is a running list of all participating photographers.
